NewsWrap
for the week ending December 3, 2005
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #923, distributed 12-5-05)
[Written this week by Lucia Chappelle and Greg Gordon, with thanks to Cindy
Friedman, Graham Underhill, and Rex Wockner]
Reported this week by Christopher Gaal and Sheri Lunn
Queer couples got closer to equality on 3 continents this week.
The highest court in South Africa ruled overwhelmingly that lesbian and gay
couples should have the right to marry under the country's groundbreaking
Constitution. As stated in the decision penned by Justice Albie Sachs, "The
exclusion of same-sex couples from the benefits and responsibilities of marriage...
signifies that their capacity for love, commitment and accepting
responsibility is by definition less worthy of regard than that of heterosexual couples."
The Constitutional Court instructed parliament to amend the marriage laws to
comply with its ruling within a year, or the legal definition of marriage would
be automatically changed. The only dissenting judge argued that the court
should legalize same-gender marriage immediately rather than give parliament 12
months to act.
The judgement came as a result of a challenge to the Marriage Act brought by
Pretoria lesbian couple Marie Fourie and Cecelia Bonthuys. After the Supreme
Court of Appeal ruled in November 2004 in their favor, the government took the
case to the Constitutional Court, arguing that the judiciary could not change
the law on its own. The government is now prepared to respect the decision.
Spokesperson Joel Netshitenze told the South African Press Association that
the matter will be assessed by the Department of Home Affairs to determine the
details of the needed legislative changes. GLBT activists were elated, albeit
frustrated by the delay on their way to the altar. Thuli Madi of Behind the
Mask rhetorically asked reporters, "If Parliament does not do anything in 12
months, we can marry anyway, so why not make it effective now?"
Legal marriage was extended to same gender couples in Belgium in 2002...
but this week the country's Chamber of Representatives took a further step
towards full equality by passing a bill to grant gay and lesbian couples adoption
rights.
Following sometimes-contentious debate, the 77-to-62 majority vote in the
nation's lower chamber was by a wider margin than had been expected. Pundits are
predicting Senate passage in early 2006.
In couples developments Down Under, the Government of the Australian
Capital Territory -- or ACT -- has announced the introduction of civil unions
legislation for gay and lesbian couples. Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said the new
civil union laws will give lesbian and gay couples the same legal rights as
their heterosexually married counterparts. Predictably, right wing religious
groups criticized the move, while queer advocacy groups applauded. The
legislation is expected to be introduced in the ACT Legislative Assembly in March,
based on the New Zealand civil unions laws that came into force earlier this year.
The Australian state of Tasmania granted same gender couples the right to
registration in 2004, but without specific legal rights. Its state parliament
late this week refused to hold an inquiry into marriage equality for gay and
lesbian couples.
Tasmanian Greens proposed a same gender marriage bill for parliamentary
committee consideration, but the predominant Labour and Liberal parties voted
against the move. The Government said state laws could not supercede federal law
-- a national same gender marriage ban was passed by the Howard government
earlier this year -- but Greens justice spokesperson Nick McKim told reporters
that he had legal counsel from a constitutional lawyer to the contrary. In any
case, Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesperson Rodney Croome said,
"It's appalling that, first at a national level, and now at a state level, both
major parties have said no to even discussing the issue."
South Australia's Legislative Council passed a Same Sex Relationships Bill
to give same gender couples many of the same financial rights as their
heterosexual counterparts by a vote of 13-to-6 in late November. It was in the
state's upper house that queer advocacy groups thought the measure would face its
toughest opposition. However, on the final day of the legislative session in
the House of Assembly, and before a gallery packed with anticipatory gay and
lesbian couples and their supporters, the bill stalled when the government
listed it last in the lower chamber's Order of Business. It appears that backroom
political deals were negotiated between the Labor government and opposition
Liberals to pass several other bills that also included a government promise not
to bring the Same Sex Relationships Bill up for a vote. The legislature has
now adjourned until after state elections on March 18th, so proponents of the
bill will have to start all over again in both houses next year.
The scandal-plagued Liberal-led minority government of Canadian Prime
Minister Paul Martin did not survive a confidence vote in late November, and same
gender marriage has already surfaced as a campaign issue leading up to new
elections on January 23rd. Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper has pledged to
allow a free Commons vote on marriage equality, and to ban further same
gender unions if the move to reinstate the heterosexual-only definition of marriage
is successful. More than 3,000 queer couples across Canada have wed since
marriage equality became legal, and Harper said those unions would be respected
even if the law changed. He has yet to explain, however, how such a vote
would supercede the country's Supreme Court edict that required passage of
equality legislation. Canadian voters face a choice among the country's two leading
parties between a scandal-scarred Liberal government asking for a fifth
mandate and the Conservative opposition still trying to overcome perceptions of
intolerance.
The prospect of torturous human rights abuses against gays in the United
Arab Emirates has even been enough to awaken outrage from the U.S. State
Department. Following the arrest of some 26 men at a mass wedding ceremony in Dubai,
UAE authorities have suggested that the men could be subjected to forced
psychological and hormonal treatment in addition to lashings and five-year jail
terms. Police said they raided a Ghantout hotel on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi highway
in response to a tip, where they allegedly found a full-blown party with a
dozen men dressed as brides and a dozen in male Arab attire. Openly homosexual
behavior is prohibited in the country. According to Interior Ministry
spokesman Issam Azouri, it's likely that the accused men will stand trial under Muslim
law on charges related to adultery and prostitution. "It's not about freedom
of opinion," he said, "it's about respecting religion which forbids this type
of behaviour."
Although similar arrests in the recent past have led only to symbolic, if
humiliating, punishments, prominent Emirati lawyer Abdul Hamid al-Kumaiti told
the Associated Press it could well be different this time. "There are so many
others like these guys," al-Kumaiti said. "The police and rulers need to do
more than just lash them and let them go."
"[T]he Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, may not
admit to the seminary and Holy Orders those who practice homosexuality, show
profoundly deep-rooted homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called gay
culture." That's part of one of the key sentences in the long-awaited document
published by the Roman Catholic Congregation for Catholic Education entitled
"Instruction Concerning the Criteria of Vocational Discernment Regarding Persons
with Homosexual Tendencies, Considering Their Admission to Seminary and to
Holy Orders," which was formally released November 29th. As scholars,
observers, activists, and parishioners on both the conservative and progressive sides
attempt to parse the exact meaning and ramifications of the "Instruction," its
terminology and approach do seem to indicate that the last two decades of
scientific research have had little impact on the Vatican's understanding of human
sexuality. Not recognizing the concept of sexual orientation, the document
approved by Pope Benedict in August only draws a distinction between
"deep-rooted" and "transitory" homosexual "tendencies." Despite numerous studies that
disprove any link between homosexuality and pedophilia, the "Instruction"
includes a veiled implication that it is intended in part to address the child
abuse crisis that has rocked the Church in recent years.
The "Instruction" only targets seminarians, not previously ordained gay
priests. Those charged with supervising seminarians are advised to "dissuade"
gays from pursuing ordination, although they are not required to "out" them.
Aside from the general Church teaching that gay sex is "intrinsically immoral
and contrary to natural law," the document cites several reasons why gay men
should not become priests, including the assertion that homosexuality "gravely
obstructs a right way of relating with men and women." Critics of the
"Instruction" decry its archaic suppositions about gay men, and worry that it will have
the effect of keeping gays from seeking ordination at a time when qualified
candidates are increasingly difficult to come by. Supporters of the Vatican
position think that it will encourage heterosexuals who have been uncomfortable
with the "gay subculture" in Catholic seminaries to return. Still, some
Church officials maintain that, in the context of a full assessment of the
individual, the document leaves room for them to approve gays for ordination.
And finally, in predominantly Roman Catholic Argentina, and despite the
Church's condemnation of condoms for HIV prevention, Buenos Aires had one of the
more unique World AIDS Day observances this year. The city's most visited
tourist attraction, the landmark Obelisk -- which is identical in shape to the
Washington Monument in America's capital -- was on December 1st given special
protection, as city-authorized cranes draped a giant pink condom over it. Its
colorful tip could be seen from office buildings several blocks away.
Thanks to aggressive education campaigns, the number of reported AIDS cases
in Argentina has fallen 45 per cent since 1996, according to the health
ministry. The leading cause of HIV infection, however, continues to be unprotected
sex. Said Sandra Castillo, who helped coordinate the Obelisk sheathing, "It
seemed like we could have the biggest impact by putting a condom on the most
important symbol of the city."